Marcus Cornelius Agrippa
Marcus Corneilus Agrippa was a male human NPC in the Om campaign. Summary Marcus Agrippa was the the Duke of Waymere and the Governor-General of New Gildorn. A hardened combat veteran who led the Gildornian forces in the First Kirathi Uprising. He later became paranoid about a second elven uprising and instituted increasingly harsh punishments upon the elves of the region. He surrounded himself with his own advisers in addition to the ones sent by the Gildornian Crown, and eventually began to rely on them exclusively. He was betrayed by his circle of advisers during the Battle of Waymere and murdered by his personal spymaster, Felix Lapubelle. Background Marcus Cornelius Agrippa was a highly capable fighter, soldier and military commander. He was a Knight of the Falcon and personally led the Gildornian forces during the First Kirathi Uprising, where the elves took up arms against Gildornian settlers and forces. His son also fought in the uprising, but died in the fighting. Agrippa led the Gildornian forces to victory, and instituted brutal and harsh settlement terms upon the elves, and felt that the elves had no right to complain because they were a conquered people. In spite of his brutal tactics and harsh treatment, he was hailed highly by the people of New Gildorn and was made Duke of Waymere and Governor-General of New Gildorn. Although assigned a spymaster by the Gildornian Crown, Atticus Brock, at some point Agrippa retained his own circle of intelligence sources, led by Felix Lapubelle. Eventually Agrippa began to increasingly rely on Lapubelle, shutting out Brock more and more. In spite of their conquest, some elves who called themselves Wild Runners continued to attack Gildornian settlements, caravans and other targets. Agrippa was enraged at this, and devoted a fair amount of effort to hunting down the Wild Runners. In 465 Merith, an elven community leader from the Dralthanor Tribe, traveled to Waymere to request the grain shipment that they were promised in the treaty that ended the uprising. Agrippa, convinced he was secretly the leader of the Wild Runners, ordered him imprisoned pending execution. This only served to cause the Wild Runners increase their attacks in an effort to pressure the Gildornians to release Merith. Attack on the Mowett Whaling Factory On the 29th of Father, 465 a large group of Wild Runners attacked Waymere. They set a variety of fires around the city, and one group attacked the harbor and took a captive from the frigate Sea Bitch and holed up in the Mowett Whaling Factory, taking a further six workers hostage. The Wild Runners issued several demands, among which were the release of Merith, the recognition of a Kirathi state, the withdrawal of all Gildornians from Waymere, and a ship delivered for them to escape the city with. Due to the City Guard dealing with the fires and other smaller attacks the Royal Explorers took charge and attacked the Wild Runners in the factory, slaying most of them and arresting two of the elves. Though the battle did result in the death of most of the hostages and one of the Explorers, Noel Gorehammer. Duke Agrippa summoned the Explorers to an audience and praised them for their bold action. He arranged for the resurrection of Noel and ordered them to escort a caravan of settlers to a piece of land suitable to a new settlement south of Dunkirk. For this mission he hired a local guide, Corin Ironcheek, and later detailed a squad of soldiers under Captain Hunter Brynan to guard the new settlement while they got themselves situated. Agrippa's response to the Wild Runner attack was more controversial, however. He publicly hanged the elven prisoners captured during the attack and declared in a speech at the event that all elves were to be subjugated and that such was their natural place as they’d been conquered by Gildorn. He then issued an edict that any elf who raised a hand to a Gildornian citizen would be put to death without trial. Alliance with the Umani Duke Agrippa sought to counter Orlesea's alliance with the Brotherhood of the Coast forging an alliance with the Umani natives on Socortia. To that end he named Jubal, an acquaintance of the Royal Explorers, as the Gildornian ambassador to Socortia. He dispatched Jubal and one of the Royal Explorers, Leandra, along with a squadron of ships under Commodore James Upton to Socortia. Their mission was to secure an alliance with Queen Aziza and, with her blessing, facilitate the removal of any Orlesean and/or Brotherhood forces from the island. The mission resulted in the Battle of Socortia, which was a resounding success for Gildorn as several Orlesean vessels were sunk or captured and the enemy forces were forced to withdraw. Aziza secured control of the island and agreed to a Gildornian Embassy to be established there. Increasing Paranoia With Wild Runner attacks continuing and tensions with Orlesea on the rise, Duke Agrippa felt a war was a forgone conclusion and began to grow more and more paranoid. Even the slightest hint of seditious behavior or speech would see the harshest of punishments meted out. Agrippa had requested troops from Gildorn, likely to attempt to wage further war on the Kirathi Elves, and in early Twins, 465, a full division of soldiers, part of The Vanguard arrived under the command of Agrippa's friend, Sir Boewin Banister. Duke Agrippa also began to rely more and more on his personal spymaster, Felix Lapubelle, over the colony's Royal Spymaster, Atticus Brock. This was no doubt due to Lapubelle's direct efforts, but was likely not helped when Brock chose an ill-timed moment to suggest to Agrippa that his harsh new policies against the elves would only fuel more Wild Runner attacks rather than avert them. Nevertheless, Brock's advise did nothing to slow the Duke's increasingly harsh policies, and another edict soon followed ejecting all Orleseans from New Gildorn due to the increasingly likelihood of war and the concern about spies. On the 6th of the Twins, 465, Merith escaped from imprisonment on Praetor's Block and somehow escaped the city. This threw Agrippa into a savage fury and he ordered the imprisonment of Sir Stephen (the warden of the prison), the guards who were on duty that night, and Captain Wynona Falco, the head of the city watch, for failing to prevent his escape from the city. He also appears to have engaged in a scheme to betray Gunnar the Wolf, the prince of the Thuns, by arranging for him to get ambushed by the Wild Runners in an effort to gain the assistance of the Thuns in wiping out the elves. Gunnar escaped however and, unaware of the betrayal, sought aid from a column of Gildornian troops marching south. The troops then turned on Gunnar, seemingly intent at that point on murdering the prince and his entourage and pinning on the elves. War with Orlesea War with Orlesea was officially declared after the Battle of Dead Man's Cove. Duke Agrippa had dispatched a squadron of ships under the command of Captain Horatio Higgs to sail to Dead Man's Cove and attack the reported stronghold of the Brotherhood of the Coast. Higgs' squadron was ambushed by both pirate and Orlesean ships and the battle was an almost total loss. Agrippa blamed Higgs, as his ship was the only one to escape, and ordered him arrested for cowardice and dereliction of duty. Because of the influx of troops requested by Agrippa, Gildorn had men on hand to begin the war effort promptly, however the Duke still took the precaution of declaring marshal law and ordering the conscription of all able bodied men to serve in the coming war. This order served to inflame an already tense situation in Dunkirk, leading to a full scale riot. Now seemingly convinced that the Royal Spymaster Atticus Brock was working against him, Agrippa also ordered his arrest. Recapture of Merith Duke Agrippa took steps to re-arrest Merith, and using intelligence gathered by collaborators among the Nilthanar Tribe, became aware of an Elf Moot to be held in Kal-Thalas on the 11th of Twins, 465. He ordered part of The Vanguard,The 57th Regiment (aka "The Thunderbolts"), to march to Kal-Thalas to apprehend Merith and any other elven leaders. Additionally he arranged for the Grey Wizards of Waymere to aid in the endeavor. The effort was a success and Merith was re-captured, alongside of the elf leaders Athos, Tacitus and Memnon. They were ferried back to Waymere by the Grey Wizards and Agrippa arranged for a parade and public execution of the elf lords, as well as other "enemies of the state" including Sir Stephen, Captain Higgs, Captain Falco and Atticus Brock. The Battle of Waymere Duke Agrippa had arranged for the execution of his proclaimed enemies of the state to take place on the 20th of Twins, 465. He held a grand celebration and parade to attempt to drum up support for the coming war. During the festivities, however, and on the verge of initiating the executions a combined force of Orleseans, minotaurs of the Kythonian Imperium and pirates from the Brotherhood of the Coast attacked Waymere. By coincidence, the Fate Fighters had chosen that exact moment to attempt to rescue the condemned as well. Duke Agrippa sprang into action, seeking to secure the deaths of the elf lords before they could be rescued, however he was immediately stabbed to death by Felix Lapubelle, his own spymaster, in a surprise attack. As the battle raged his corpse was subsequently blown up in a Fireball spell. Category:Om Category:Characters Category:NPCs